YELENA BATURINA WITH JOLIEGAZETTE'S CAROLINA RODRIGUEZ HERNANDEZ FOR THE TALK
Yelena Baturina is a businesswoman, entrepreneur and philanthropist, whose international career has spanned a whole spectrum of industries, from manufacturing to hospitality. Yelena is a self-made woman who has built her formidable business empire from scratch and to this day remains Russia’s only female billionaire. JOLIEGAZETTE'S contributor Carolina Rodriguez Hernandez in a conversation with Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist, Yelena Baturina talks about her hotel investments, her initiative to create BE OPEN philanthropic foundation, her passion for horse riding. as well as her private collections of Russian porcelain, among other issues for The Talk.
Carolina Rodriguez Hernandez: Can you describe to us a childhood experience which influenced your business career, especially your relation with the industry?
Yelena Baturina: My family was a very typical one for those days. Both of my parents worked at a factory. After my high-school graduation I also got a job at the same factory because I had to support the family. At the same time, I was attending evening courses for higher education. Our society at that time could have been described as “egalitarian”, but for some of us this served as motivation to stand out, to look for our own individuality, to express ambitions. I remember, when I was at school, it was common for us to strike out with unconventional thinking, to be inventive when learning new material; there was a bit of épatage in it – that way you could stand out from the crowd. I suppose, this inner urge helped me make important decisions, defining my life in the future.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: Could you give us an insight into the creative process behind your hotel investments?
Yelena Baturina: Hotel investments have grown from my own personal affection (which is shared with other members of my family) towards Alpine skiing, specifically in Tyrol. We always really enjoyed going there – away from all the “fashionable” places and high life bustle. I thought it would make a good prospective business-idea: to build a hotel, that would merge ideally into the serene beauty of the surrounding landscapes and offer a peaceful and healthy retreat to its guests. The Austrian hotel ‘Grand Tirolia’ has established this base for our business in the hospitality world. Forming a conception and a design that I personally would be fond of, crystallising the spirit of the place – all of it became such an exciting process, that I could not help but want to continue. My desire was to create a hotel chain with the highest standards of service, while at the same time preserving and emphasizing the unique character and individuality of each place.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: What has been a good personal experience in defining your Be Open Fund?
Yelena Baturina: In the time that I was president of a construction company, I was lucky enough to work with such architects as Ricardo Bofill, Hadi Teherani, Norman Foster. Working with people who have architecture and design at the very core of their lives is a great inspiration. No matter how different their ideas are, there is always the same creative force behind them – an urge for the better, for growth, for pushing the definition of ‘good’ a little further. So I started thinking about this creative force – of the ability to make the surrounding reality more beautiful or more functional, more sustainable and eco-friendly – and understood that this is what design is about. I genuinely believe that the next era will be design-centered and most of the added value will come from design – this applies to construction, medicine, transport, arts, food and even social interactions.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: What are your challenges?
Yelena Baturina: At different times of my life the challenges have been different as well. At first there were a lot of plans, wishes and ambitions, but no opportunities. A lot of work had to be done before the conceived plans started to come to life. Developing one’s business is always a risk. Sometimes you risk everything just for the sake of your own beliefs in success. Luckily my intuition has not failed me all that often. I have had to face prejudices of different kinds (and I still do sometimes). For example, the secondary role assigned to women in business. This is not to mention such impartial and obvious challenges for any businessman as economic turmoil, a country’s political dynamics, competition and so on. As for today, the main challenge for me is a lack of time. Combining business with the role of wife and mother has always been a hard task. And now that one of my daughters is studying in New York, the other – in London, while my husband is developing an agricultural project in Russia, it sometimes seems that for the most part I live onboard an airplane.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: What is the single most inspiring video you have seen addressing today’s biggest challenges, which include: climate change, food security, poverty reduction, and quality of life for all?
Yelena Baturina: I can barely remember the last time I saw a video! My inspiration and ideas for solving the problems I mentioned before come from talking to a range of great, interested people from different areas of work. The opportunities for this communication have broadened further through the work of my foundation BE OPEN. For example, last year we were taking part in the cultural program of the Universal Exposition EXPO in Milan. Much of it was dedicated to solving the problems of hunger, food security, poverty reduction, and raising the quality of life for all. Obviously, all of these things are so profoundly interconnected that they require a complex approach. The programe ‘Made in’, which we implemented with BE OPEN in 2014-15, was focused on the issue of reducing poverty through the revival of traditional crafts, and by providing the opportunity to improve quality of life through work. Among many other questions we explored the ways in which design could transform traditional crafts into highly desirable methods of production for the modern world.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: Was there a particular human exchange you can describe which inspired you towards taking charitable action regarding the causes you love?
Yelena Baturina: I grew up in a Moscow family that was very far from being rich, where everyone worked to support each other. Our neighbors, colleagues and friends – they also supported one another. And I always knew that mutual respect, the willingness to help each other whenever possible – this is the essential key to human exchange that strengthens any community, society or nation. As soon as I found an opportunity to help people on a larger scale, to make a change in their lives, I found my way to philanthropy.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: What advice can you share with the world on the importance of empowering others to reach one’s full potential? How do you empower others in your daily life?
Yelena Baturina: Family, colleagues, society – people cannot live in isolation, we always interact with one another, giving and taking, choosing with whom to keep on sharing our lives, and whom to avoid. The stronger your network, the more you can achieve together. And I am certain that the best way to empower others is by setting your own example. You should not accept limitations, nor make excuses: you need to demand a lot from others, but so much more – from yourself.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: What is your message to entrepreneurs who struggle to launch their ideas?
Yelena Baturina: Keep trying. You cannot stop, cannot accept the thought that you have done everything possible and can now rest on your laurels. In business there can be no stopping. To stop is to be set back, because if you stand still while everyone else is moving, immediately you find yourself left behind.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: Which are your hobbies?
Yelena Baturina: For a few decades already I have been collecting Russian porcelain. Today I have a very serious collection, unique in many aspects. Porcelain for me is not only a beautiful thing; it is a titanic work of craftsmanship and a testament to the people who once created it. It is a world of history and culture, imprinted on one of the most fragile mediums. As for sports, I like to play golf – the deliberate pace of play allows you calmly to reflect on many things. Also – Alpine skiing and horse riding.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: What is your greatest hope for the future? What is next for Yelena Baturina?
Yelena Baturina: My biggest hopes are associated with the future – the happy future – of my family, my daughters primarily. They are close to graduation; in front of them lie their professional lives – the paths to self-determination. This is an important period in the life of our family.
Many of my hopes – not as a mother but as a human – are bound with the activity of the BE OPEN Foundation. The aim of the Foundation is not in producing material objects or increasing the number of its members, but in giving publicity, support and realization to those ideas that can change the world for the better. And for those people who are capable of producing such ideas – the inspiration and confidence that their work is not in vain.
We cannot foresee what will happen with the participants and viewers of our projects in the future. But many times I have noticed that young people – after participating in our projects – leave us with a sparkle in their eyes and a desire to discuss, to look for answers. This means that we succeeded in our plans. Those who are able to think outside the box, to create something completely new and to improve what already exists – they are our future, and my hopes are with them.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: Is there a thought leader you look up to when you make important decisions?
Yelena Baturina: Words of outstanding thinkers can in a way inspire us all in various situations. For example, the idea to establish BE OPEN Foundation came to me while reading “In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust. There was a phrase: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes”.
BE OPEN Foundation is my way of seeing the world with new eyes and supporting people who can perceive our usual reality in an out-of-the-box way, who can find their unique path, their bold decision, which can change the world for the better – for all of us.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: Which philosopher inspired you throughout your career? Why?
Yelena Baturina: In the context of all the history of philosophy my biggest respect and admiration is for Socrates: as a visionary, who determined the way in which Western philosophy would evolve up until our own time, and as a personality, who always stayed true to his principles.
I share many of his beliefs. My business and philanthropic activity each and every day is constantly proving to me the truth behind one of his principles – the one that can briefly be put as “virtue results from knowledge”. In this way I have always considered that a child who can easily access the scientific and cultural achievements of mankind, a child, taught to understand and value the beauty of the world around, of intellectual activity, of free thinking, of art, of social connections and so on – a child like this would most readily be able to generate beauty and positivity himself, and to share it with others.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: Would you describe yourself as a spiritual person? If so can you share with us one of your most profound spiritual experiences?
Yelena Baturina: In order to stop and grasp spiritual experiences, you need time. Quite often people are too busy to notice and show gratitude for them – I am not an exception. But as strange as it sounds, a generous source of such moments for me is my business activity. When you solve a difficult task, after thinking it over and over in your head a zillion times, then all of a sudden something changes subtly; your experience, knowledge and intuition help you grasp a decision, find a right (quite often nonstandard) way – and then everything falls into place, all the elements combine to form a unique picture. Those moments are the spiritual experiences for me.
Carolina Rodríguez Hernández: What is a normal day for Yelena Baturina?
Yelena Baturina: I would say: I miss those days when I didn't have to step on board a plane and follow a strict schedule.
